


Home for a rest

by killerweasel



Series: It's a Small World [3]
Category: Angel: the Series
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-06
Updated: 2013-03-06
Packaged: 2017-12-04 11:54:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/710515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killerweasel/pseuds/killerweasel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lindsey finds an unexpected ally and goes on a journey.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home for a rest

Title: Home for a rest  
Fandom: _Angel_  
Characters: Lindsey McDonald, Illyria, Angel  
Word Count: 2,136  
Rating: R  
A/N: AU after _Underneath_  
Warnings: N/A  
Summary: Lindsey finds an unexpected ally and goes on a journey.

I was waiting for him on the front porch. Never actually thought he’d come looking for us, not after he basically told us to stay away from his damn city. The road trip with Illyria had been more fun than I’d had in ages. Everything was new to her. And now that she didn’t have all that power, she was being forced to change the way she acted and reacted to things.

A car pulled up the long driveway and I made my way down the steps, still limping a bit from our last encounter with some of Wolfram and Hart’s demon goons. They hadn’t stood a chance against the two of us, but one of them had managed a lucky swing and almost broken my leg when he took a chunk out of it with an ax. I’d told the people at the hospital I’d hurt myself on farm equipment and they seemed to believe that.

“How are things in L.A.?”

He stared at me for a moment and I had to glance at myself to see if maybe I was covered in horse manure or something and didn’t notice. Then I realized he was looking at the scars that decorated my chest. He’d seen the ones on my arms before. “It’s getting better. We couldn’t beat the Senior Partners, not the way I wanted, so we had to reach a bit of a compromise. They’re slowly pulling out of the city, but now we have demon clans rising up to try to take over the territory they covered.”

I ran my hand through my hair. “Wolfram and Hart might be evil, but they kept the demons in line. You’ll have to do the same damn thing if you don’t want the city to explode like a powder keg.”

We started walking towards the house and he didn’t say anything for a moment. “I’m open to suggestions, Lindsey.”

“If it was me, and I was in charge, I would contact the heads of all the clans, organize a meeting in neutral territory. Maybe you could hold it in the warehouse district. You know, in one of those big, empty buildings. Each guy can bring one guard, and that way you don’t end up with too many demons. Then you seal the doors and kill them all. Usually whoever kills the leader gets to take over the group. That would put you in charge of everyone.”

“I never thought you’d be able to come up with something like that.”

A smile crossed my lips. “I actually did that on one of Illyria’s worlds. They wouldn’t bow down and I needed to improvise. We weren’t there very long, but they won’t forget her for a while.”

“Where is she?”

“You’ll see. She loves it out here. I don’t know if it’s because more of the host remains than she thought, or if the local vegetation is just better to talk to. She can act perfectly human when she feels like it too.”

“It isn’t a host. Her name was Fred.”

I shook my head at him. “It is a host. She’s not exactly a parasite, Angel. It’s more like one of those mutual bonds. Illyria needed the body, and as a result, the body is stronger now than it ever would have been. Part of your friend is still in there. She can remember things she’s never done, books she hasn’t read, television shows she hasn’t seen.”

“Lindsey, I think it would be in your best interest to be quiet now or I might take your damn head off.”

“You could try, but I’m a hell of a lot stronger than you think. I was playing back in the Thunderdome. Could have killed you any time I wanted, but I held back. Don’t start something you don’t intend to finish this time, because I will. And if you hurt her, I’ll tie your body to the ground and then we’ll wait until the sun comes up.”

Something in my voice made him freeze. “You’d actually do that, wouldn’t you?”

“Try me and find out.”

We reached the porch and I leaned against the railing. “We’ve been attacked five times since leaving L.A.. As long as the firm has my contract, they can track me.”

“They can’t any more. I had it voided before coming out here.”

I almost fell over. “You’re shitting me.”

“I thought it could be a peace offering. I’ve been voiding the damn things left and right because it takes more power away from the Senior Partners.”

“I... thank you.” I didn’t think he’d do something like that, not for me. “Angel, I invite you into my home. Follow me to the kitchen, and then you can see where she is.”

Made our way through the house and he commented a few times on the furniture, but I ignored it. We reached the kitchen and I pointed to the window. “She’s out there.”

He leaned over, peering outside and his eyes widened. “How did she do that?”

“I have no idea. One of her worlds was populated by shrimp. They followed her everywhere. I knew she could talk with plants, figured that out by the time we’d been on the second place for a while, but this animal thing is new. Before, animals were lower than we were, not even on her radar. Now, it’s almost like they’re seeing her for the first time.”

“It looks like she’s talking to them.”

“Maybe she is. Once she goes out into the yard, I give her space. Illyria doesn’t like being interrupted when she’s doing something. You should see her ride the horses. Doesn’t use anything, just jumps on and it’s like the animal is part of her. It’s amazing shit.”

My bad leg started to buckle, so I sprawled myself into one of the chairs. “There’s blood in the fridge if you want it. I ordered it when you called the other day. Can you grab me a beer?”

He warmed himself up the blood and tossed me a beer. “Did you lose any more of your people?”

“Gunn lost an eye in one of the fights and Spike is still recovering from his injuries. I don’t think I have to tell you how bad it was.”

I winced. “But you’ve managed to do something no one else has. You chased them out of their own territory. They have branches all over the world, but LA should end up being a safer place for the normal people once you get the demons under control.”

Angel sipped the blood, raising his eyebrows at me. “What happened to you while you were with her? You weren’t the same person I had locked up in that cell.”

“We came to an understanding. I’d kill anyone who tried to hurt her, she’d watch my back. I guess back when she had more power, when she was the full god-king, the Qwa’ha Xahn was more than just a high priest. He knew all of Illyria’s secrets and vulnerabilities and would be willing to give his life in order to protect her. He might have been even more than that, she wasn’t exactly clear on the details.”

I drained the beer. “Illyria is who she is and I can’t see this other person who used to belong in the body, so I guess that makes me different than the rest of you. Do I fall to my knees and worship her? No. Would I die to protect her? I probably would. But I’d do that for anyone I gave a damn about, not just her.”

The door opened before Angel could say anything and I smiled as Illyria came in. Then she went still when she realized we had a guest. “You didn’t tell me the half-breed was coming.”

“Wasn’t sure he’d actually show up, so I didn’t mention it.”

“Will you remain here?”

“I’ll leave when the sun sets tomorrow. I have demons to deal with back in L.A.. Lindsey told me of a way that might give me an advantage.”

“You should listen, he is valuable to me.”

I smirked at Angel. Take that, asshole. “I will show you the horses.”

“I don’t ride.”

The glare she gave him was enough to make me flinch. “Go look at the horses, Angel.” I turned my head to look at her face. “Don’t let him touch Necromancer, we just got that one gentled, I’d hate for him to screw it up.”

“Come.”

I waited for them to go out the back door before I went out onto the deck. Taking the weight off my leg, I watched the horses come over to her. She made some kind of motion, which caused all of them to rear up at once. Then she grabbed the mane of the closest one, swung up and took off down the grass.

Angel came back over to where I was. “That was impressive. How’d you know she liked horses?”

“I took her to a fair. Everything fascinated the hell out of her, but the look she’d get on her face when she touched a horse... I knew we had to get some. Illyria’s still strong, maybe stronger than you, and she probably has a few other abilities that I don’t know about yet, but I think she’s doing pretty damn well.”

He motioned for me to sit in one of the chairs. “How did that happen?”

I sat down, propping my leg up. Now he could see part of the scar sticking out from under my cutoffs. “I took an ax to the leg during a fight. It chipped the bone, and they fixed it as best they could. If I do too much, it gets sore as hell. I was out with the horses for part of the day, working with them. I guess I overdid it again.”

We both turned to see Illyria ride by. “She wouldn’t be like this if you weren’t working with her. She’s improved a lot with you, Lindsey.”

“I think it’s because I’ve treated her as an equal since she came to the cell. Her power didn’t scare me even though I knew she could kill me with little thought or effort. Illyria was and still is a higher being. She’s something that people like us can’t totally comprehend. Darla was old, Eve was even older, but Illyria... she’s been around since before humans walked the earth. I try to imagine all the things she’s seen and done and it makes my brain hurt.”

I rubbed my leg with my hand and sighed. “She took me to new worlds. Can you picture that? Stepping through a portal and not having the faintest idea where I’d end up, but I knew I’d go because she told me it wouldn’t kill me. She has no reason to lie or deceive, she speaks exactly what’s on her mind and if she doesn’t understand, I explain it.”

We were silent for a few minutes, just watching her work with the animals. She approached the porch. “Your injury is causing pain again?”

“It’ll be fine; I just need to soak it again later.”

Her eyes met Angel’s and a tiny little smile crossed her lips. “The blow would have killed me. He put himself in front of it. He is a proper Qwa’ha Xahn.”

“Yeah, I guess he is. You made an excellent choice.”

Coming from him, something like that meant quite a bit. “I have to ask though, when you go out in public, do you stay in that form?”

Her eyes closed and she shifted into the face she’d wear when she was out. “That’s not Fred.”

“If you squint, I imagine you can pick out a few of Fred’s features, but this is something she came up with by herself. It looks damn good too.” You’d never be able to tell she wasn’t human, not even up close.

Her appearance returned to normal as she tilted her head. “SpongeBob is on now.”

“You go ahead and watch. I’ll follow in a few minutes.”

She went though the door and I chuckled at the expression on Angel’s face. “She likes cartoons. SpongeBob is one of her favorites. She said something about how his world reminded her of one of her own.”

“Maybe she was talking about the shrimp one. You’re telling me the entire place was full of shrimp?”

“Angel, why in the hell would I lie about a world of shrimp? We’re talking the little ones all the way up to some the size of damn horses. Shrimp shouldn’t be that big, their eyes get huge and creepy as hell.”

He shivered. “I don’t think I ever needed to have that image in my brain.”

“Come on, we can’t keep SpongeBob waiting.”


End file.
